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Colleen O'Donnell Fedor is the Executive Director of The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Mrs. Fedor has a B.S. in Education and previously worked for the Sewickley Valley YMCA where she held a variety of positions associated with youth and families, including 10 years as the Associate Executive Director. In addition, she served as a trainer for the YMCA of the USA and the Association of Professional Directors of YMCA’s. Colleen has been recognized for her leadership and organizational development abilities and brings a variety of experiences in youth program development, training and community collaboration. She has been chosen as a Distinguished Member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, to serve on the Board of Advisors for America’s Promise – Allegheny County and Big Brothers Big Sisters Community Council, and served on the Core Team for the Youth Standards project. In addition, Mrs. Fedor is active in her home community. She was recently elected to the Steel Valley School Board and serves on the Mon Valley Education Consortium SAC, volunteers at her church (St. Johns Cathedral Center) and is past president of the Munhall Woman’s Club. Colleen lives in Munhall, PA with her husband and three children. Jonathan Livingston is the Director of School-Based Mentoring at the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Jonathan’s experience with mentoring includes service as the coordinator of the largest school-based mentoring program in Duluth, MN (Men as Peacemakers) with 450+ matches in seven schools. Locally he has worked as Program Manager for the PA eMentoring program, and with the Advancing Academics program and the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board. Additionally, Livingston has also worked for the Arrowhead Partnership for Economic Expansion, the Northeast Foundation for Children and as a Family Literacy Coordinator through Americorps VISTA. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Bennington College and a Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Minnesota – Duluth. Other training includes participation in the Blandin Community Leadership Institute and Wellstone Action Advocacy workshops. Arlene F. Sparks is the Director of Mentor Recruitment for The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. She joined the staff at The Mentoring Partnership after spending the past five years developing and coordinating the Scholar Mentor program for Penn Hills School District. Under her direction the program grew from six initial volunteers to over one hundred, including among its’ volunteers four members of the schools’ Board of Directors. Under the guidance of Mrs. Sparks, teachers, administrators and volunteers alike had the opportunity to connect the much needed resource of individual attention to students at all levels – elementary through high-school. The Scholar Mentor programs individualized training maximized human resources and capacity to address academic challenges. Her association with The Mentoring Partnership is not new however, as she has spent the past several years representing Penn Hills at the monthly Greater Pittsburgh Mentoring Association Meetings. In 2003 the Scholar Mentor Program was honored for ”Excellence in School Based Mentoring” at The Magic of Mentoring Recognition Event. In addition to her experience as a program coordinator, Arlene brings with her over fifteen years of volunteering experience organizing school, church, swimming and soccer events. As the mother of three sons she enjoys supporting the variety of activities they choose to pursue and contributing to her community. Arlene and her husband Jeffrey reside in Penn Hills along with their 3 sons. Crystal White is the Director of Agency Relations for the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. She joined the Mentoring Partnership staff after spending the past seven and a half years as the Program Coordinator for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh’s youth workplace mentoring program, Mentoring Minds. Under her leadership, the Mentoring Minds Program provided Bank employees with the opportunities to take part in any of 14 different mentoring-related initiatives. Although Crystal joined the staff in February 2007, her relationship with the Mentoring Partnership is not a new one. She represented the Federal Home Loan Bank by attending and speaking at the Greater Pittsburgh Mentoring Association meetings. The Mentoring Minds Program was honored as the “Excellence in Mentoring Award” recipient at the 2005 Magic of Mentoring Recognition event. A mentor/mentee match from the Mentoring Minds Program was also recognized. Crystal brings a wealth of knowledge in the area of program design/development as well as experience in working with youth from preschool to 12th grade. As Crystal’s faith and family are very important to her, she is actively involved in her church where she serves as an assistant Sunday School teacher, Worship leader for pre-school children and assists with the church’s Kids Choir. Crystal resides in Bellevue with her two children.
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